Operations Research and Industrial Engineering assistant professor Ben Leibowicz, whose research interests include energy economics, technological change and energy and climate policy analysis, offered his thoughts on the potential harm that shared autonomous vehicles could have on the environment and suggestions for how policymakers and policies can regulate these vehicles to reduce the harm. His op-ed was published in the Austin American-Statesman on Nov. 29.

The last academic year was a banner year for the INFORMS Student Chapter in the Operations Research and Industrial Engineering program at The University of Texas at Austin, which received the INFORMS Annual Magna Cum Laude Award. This is the second highest award given to five select student chapters, chosen from hundreds of universities across the world, for their outstanding participation and performance during the last academic year.

You might expect that the risk of a new flu pandemic — or worldwide disease outbreak — is greatest at the peak of the flu season in winter, when viruses are most abundant and most likely to spread. Instead, all six flu pandemics that have occurred since 1889 emerged in spring and summer months. And that got some University of Texas at Austin scientists wondering, why is that?

Assistant professor Evdokia Nikolova has received a National Science Foundation grant for her work on algorithms and mechanisms for the distribution grid. The goal of this project is to “help the distribution grid and its participants transition from its current functionality of serving mostly traditional consumers, to the future grid that needs to sustainably integrate prosumers, renewables and distributed energy resources.”